The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a control method thereof. For example, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a control method thereof suitable for swiftly sending an interrupt signal without increasing the number of signal lines.
For data communication between a controller and a module, an I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit) method has been widely used as the communication mode. In the I2C communication, since the controller can be connected with a plurality of modules through a common bus, the number of signal lines can be reduced. For example, the I2C communication method is adopted even for data communication performed in small robotic electrical appliances and personal mobility (i.e., personal vehicles).
It should be noted that in a system in which a number of modules such as motors and sensors mounted in a small robotic electrical appliance or personal mobility (i.e., personal vehicle) operate in cooperation, there is a possibility that an abnormality which may occur in one of these modules could have a harmful effect on other modules and hence cause the system to malfunction as a whole. To prevent such a malfunction, it is desirable to immediately detect the occurrence of the abnormality in one of the modules and stop the operation of the entire system without delay.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-086120 discloses related art. In particular, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-086120 discloses a configuration in which an interrupt handling circuit is provided in each circuit board and an interrupt signal is output from a circuit board where an abnormality occurs to other circuit boards through a dedicated signal line.
However, the configuration disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-086120 requires a signal line(s) dedicated to an interrupt signal(s), thus causing a problem that the number of signal lines increases. As a result, in particular, when a large-scale system including a number of modules is constructed, the cost increases and the packing property deteriorates.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-217849 discloses a countermeasure against this problem. In a configuration disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-217849, a master station incorporates data for an interrupt into a synchronous data and transmits the synchronous data including the interrupt data, and each of a plurality of slave stations receives the synchronous data and detects (i.e., determines) whether or not the interrupt is for the own station. This makes it possible to notify the slave stations of the interrupt signal without increasing the number of signal lines.